June 19, 1983

[Dumpjerry]

Oakland Athletics at Chicago White Sox Box Score, June 19, 1983 | Baseball-Reference.com
Britt Burns threw a complete game 1-0 shutout at Comiskey against the A's.

Why is this a significant game? The Sox were going nowhere fast under skipper Tony LaRussa. They were three games under .500 after the game, 5th place in the old AL West (back then, there were only two divisions in each league).

This started a 70-30 run to the end of the season to finish with the best record in all of MLB that year.

This year's team, it could be said, did it in reverse (hot first half, 50/50 second half), but maybe this means there will a reverse outcome in the playoffs.

[thomas35forever]

Garfield's fifth birthday.

[StanBahnsen72]

I think that was about the time Fisk was moved to the #2 slot in the order- that seemed to really get him and the overall offense going?

[KenBerryGrab]

Yep. Hitting him in front of Harold kickstarted everything.

[Dumpjerry]

By the way, that MLB-best 1983 team was 30-30 against teams above .500.

Awesome.

[34rancher]

Damn you Tito

[Dumpjerry]

Damn you Tito

On 9/11 this year, they were doing various remembrances of that tragic day on MLB Radio. The Card's PBP guy (his name escapes me) talked about his memory of that day. He said his old teammate Tito Landrum, was working as a stock broker in the World Trade Center at the time and would have been at work when the planes hit but for the fact he had a dentist appointment elsewhere at the time of the attack.

[Irishsox1]

Sox bats went very, very cold in the '83 playoffs. Pitching was excellent.

[KenBerryGrab]

Sox bats went very, very cold in the '83 playoffs. Pitching was excellent.

How many check-swing strikeouts did Luzinski have? A lot.

[Dumpjerry]

Sox bats went very, very cold in the '83 playoffs. Pitching was excellent.

...then there was the baserunning. Rather, just one little error in baserunning.....

[BigKlu59]

How many check-swing strikeouts did Luzinski have? A lot.

Between the swinging at the junk and The Bull half hacking I was losing my mind.

[Dumpjerry]

I was all alone in my apartment in St. Paul, MN (was in college at the time) when I watched the fateful game. I'm sure the neighbors thought I lost treasured family members if they heard my bawling and cursing after the final out was made........

[Tommy John]

I was all alone in my apartment in St. Paul, MN (was in college at the time) when I watched the fateful game. I'm sure the neighbors thought I lost treasured family members if they heard my bawling and cursing after the final out was made........

I saw the final out at the old Merle Harmon’s Fan Fair in Water Tower Place

[LITTLE NELL]

Sox bats went very, very cold in the '83 playoffs. Pitching was excellent.

Wasn't excellent in game 3, Dotson and the Sox were bombed by the Orioles 11-1.

[Lipman 1]

Given the White Sox rally Monday I hope TLR remembers what he told me concerning the 1983 postseason:

ML: The A.L.C.S. against Baltimore was another story, the Sox just couldn’t hit. I’ve read talk that perhaps the victory party downtown right before the playoffs started may have put undue pressure on some players. Looking back, did that have an impact?

TLR: “That’s a really good question. I don’t think it was good to push “Bull” (Luzinski) to be our spokesperson. He was from Chicago and we had him speak for all of us, but I don’t think the rally itself did anything to hurt us.”

“I think the issue was that I didn’t do a good job of getting the team to turn the page, to let go of the fact that we won the division and had to start over. That’s on me. When I went to Oakland I met John Madden and he told me the same thing, that after the Raiders won the Super Bowl they had a bad season the next year and John said it was because he didn’t get the guys to go back to zero and start over. I could have done more to get the team ready. That being said, we did win the first game on the road (Author’s Note: The Sox won Game #1 in Baltimore 2-1 behind a complete game six-hitter by Hoyt), we just got beat by the world champions.”